可怕的“搖晃嬰兒綜合征”

沒有什么罪行比殺害嬰兒更令人震驚或憤怒的了。近期，美國頻頻有男女被控因孩子長時間啼哭或不愿睡覺，感到非常煩躁，便以猛烈搖晃的方法，企圖制止他們哭鬧，結果要了嬰兒的性命。今天就讓我們一起了解一下什么是“搖晃嬰兒綜合征”及其起源。

Shaken baby syndrome is the most common cause of death or serious neurological injury resulting from child abuse.
“搖晃嬰兒綜合征”是因虐童行為導致兒童或造成其神經嚴重受損最常見的原因。

It has been a recognized diagnosis for several decades, though many medical professionals now prefer the term abusive head trauma.
“搖晃嬰兒綜合征”作為一種得到認可的診斷結果已有幾十年的歷史了，不過現在很多醫學專家更喜歡用“虐待性頭部創傷”這個說法。

Shaken baby syndrome is defined by a constellation of symptoms known as the triad: brain swelling, bleeding on the surface of the brain and bleeding behind the eyes. For years, those three symptoms by themselves were uniformly accepted as evidence that a crime had been committed, even in the absence of bruises, broken bones or other signs of abuse.
這種綜合征是由一系列稱為“三要素”的癥狀來定義的：腦腫脹、腦表面出血、視網膜出血。多年來，這三種癥狀一直被認為是發生了犯罪行為的證據，即便沒有淤青、骨折或其他虐待跡象。

The concept of shaken baby syndrome is introduced to many Americans through a Massachusetts criminal case: the 1997 murder trial of Louise Woodward, an 18-year-old British au pair accused of having shaken an 8-month-old boy, Matthew Eappen, so aggressively that he died.
很多美國人是通過馬薩諸塞州的一起刑事案件，了解到搖晃嬰兒綜合征這個概念的。該案在1997年庭審，當時，18歲的英國交換生路易絲·伍德沃德被控用力搖晃八個月大的嬰兒馬修·伊彭致其死亡。

（中國日報網英語點津 丁一）